


Vertebrae

by KestrelShrike



Series: Anthesis-Side Stories [7]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Massage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 02:56:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3879526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KestrelShrike/pseuds/KestrelShrike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt:  leg massages after a long day of walking/fighting demons and giant spiders, or back rubs or hand massages or just rubbing his bald head for luck like you used to do with those troll dolls</p>
<p>Just a cute little piece of fluff to tide people over before the next super srs installment. As always, starring chronically ill Maiwe Lavellan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vertebrae

Pain was expected even if it was unwelcome. The normal weight of battle exhaustion coupled with the natural pain and inflammation her body fought on a day to day experience, leaving her drained, lying limp on the floor of her tent. Lying on her stomach was her only recourse, though it made breathing incrementally more difficult. Her back was a mass of pain, from the deep ache of bow muscles to the knife-like sensation of pain between her vertebrae. The heat of the pain slipped in and out, relentless. Would it always be like this, or would her body finally get used to the forced marches and endless enemies?

Maiwe lay so that she was facing the open flap of the tent, watching the others perform their post battle rituals. It soothed her to know that they felt the same dull pain. Cassandra rubbed at her sword hand, opening and closing her fist in attempt to bring life back to her numbed fingers. Varric slowly massaged each bicep, Bianca resting safely at his feet. Pound for pound, he did more than she, but Maiwe shot far more quickly. And what of Solas? He was out of her line of sight for now, though she could imagine him stretching, the way his entire body seemed to follow his arms as he raised them overhead, the way his shoulders grew taut, lean muscles springing to life.

She closed her eyes for only a minute, but when they dragged open again, the sun was lower in the sky and the shadows had grown long. Someone had closed her tent and draped a blanket over her prone form, tucking the edges in with care.

Sitting up slowly, Maiwe rubbed sleep from her eyes. Her back still ached, but she could not waste the rest of the day nursing herself. If they were not ready to fight again, she could pick herbs, or do a survey of the local minerals. Resting just felt lazy; she had pressed through pain before, and she would no doubt do it again and again until her body stopped cooperating entirely. She of all people knew how to push aside physical discomforts to accomplish tasks.

“You were deeply asleep. I wanted to join you in the Fade, but I thought it more prudent for someone to stay awake and watch over the camp.” Solas put his book down as he spoke, carefully marking his page without bending the spine. Oh yes. Maiwe could tell that Solas was doing an excellent job watching over them all, given that the tent was closed and he had a bemused, sleepy smile gracing his face.

“My back was bothering me. I thought I would just rest a few minutes. Evidently, I was wrong.” Maiwe grimaced as she attempted to stretch. The nap had not helped her much. Now she was groggy, on top of still being in some pain.

Gentle hands touched her shoulders first, exerting a firm, circular pressure that instantly eased some of the residual tightness her muscles experienced. She flinched at first at the touch and then leaned into it, ignoring that small part of her mind that always screamed to flee, to never let anyone close. She had fought back to back with Solas, and shared plenty more besides. His touch, intimate as it was, would not harm her. It was an inevitability now, this domesticity a step that their relationship had not yet taken. “You have done this before,” she commented.

His fingers walked up and down her spine, feeling each individual node, the areas where the skin stretched tightly over bone. Here he was not as firm, pushing only slightly, seeming to realign all those areas that had slowly shifted in the course of action. He spoke as he worked, voice close enough to her ear to make strands of her hair float out with every single one of his exhalations.

“I have fought for many years, vhenan. I cannot say I have suffered as you do, but I know what hurts the most after a long day.” Solas concentrated on her mid back now, fingers still operating in those same circles, growing larger and then shrinking again. His hands seemed marvelously suited to a mage’s work, but Maiwe thought they did the job of a masseuse even better. She could only make a small groan of relief as the pain began to leave her, dissipating under his tender ministrations.

“You have to let me return the favor, though my fingers will not be as nimble as yours.” Her thoughts were growing heavy again as total relaxation threatened to bring her back to sleep. Only the gentle scrape of cloth on flesh kept her awake, along with that same sense of being alert that she always carried around Solas, as birds battled to escape her gut and fly out, singing their tales of joy and love.

“I have other plans first.” He spoke against the nape of her neck, kissing just where her hairline stopped, exposing a few inches of flesh still laid bare. The tendril of one of the branches of her vallaslin almost extended up, but it was that white space he sought, his lips exerting their own kind of pressure. Her plans could wait. Solas always did have better ideas.


End file.
